Here’s how I got introduced to DayZ. I first heard about DayZ from Tomi, a friend of mine. We were chatting over a pizza and he mentioned an apocalyptic zombie survival game. The concept sounded awesome and I decided to find out more. The mod’s own site didn’t offer too much info but it contained all the essential parts of the game:

Scavenge

Slay

Survive

I then dug up gameplay videos from YouTube and started watching. The first videos were by a dude (sorry, I forgot your username) who recorded and narrated his gameplay on-the-go. The videos were mostly running around and quite uneventful, but they had enough to leave me longing for more. I wanted to see some action!

I stumbled upon Red who used to play with a mixed gender team. Their approach to the game on the parts I saw was quite close combat oriented which has never been my thing, but they also showed me the game has some awsum sniper rifles as well.

Having heard the gun AS50 mentioned in the previous videos I watched I decided to find some AS50 love from YouTube. I came across a seeming FPS veteran called Sacriel whose team concentrated on sniper tactics. Marksmanship has always been my passion both in games and in RL so I ended up spending hours and hours watching their gameplay and fine-tuned tactics. I also enjoyed how he explains stuff on the video, especially about the game mechanics concerning the marksmanship. After many videos I was pretty sure I’d spend the twenty-odd euros on Arma2 and check the mod out. I didn’t rush into the Steam store right away but kept on watching the videos and let the idea mature a bit. I also found another YouTube user called Frankie who has very cool gameplay footage as well.

I did come across some less serious videos which did show the gameplay but were too much ass-hattery to really interest me, but I guess it’s reasonable to thank all of you who have taken your time and uploaded some DayZ gameplay footage to the YouTube. In the end you’re the best PR the mod can have, even when not so serious about it

This is how I got introduced to the game, the rest you can read from the blog. I’ll try to keep track of my progress and deaths but bear with me if there’s some gaps on the posts.

Today I didn’t have too much time to play but I decided to log in anyway. I woke up exactly where I left last night and was thirsty as expected. Luckily I had stored some drinks for the occasion so I was able to hydrate my innards before moving towards the Balota airstrip civilian hangars.

The entire Balota airstrip run was a waste of time, I didn’t find anything useful. Found loads of ammo for high-powered rifles with no room to carry them and no weapons whatsoever. When I picked the server from the DayZ Commander I thought I was joining a server with plenty of daylight left. Oh how mistaken I was. As I made my (useless in hindsight) way through the military end of the airstrip I noticed the colours fading and realized the night was onto me. Damn.

Decided to check the medical camp next to the airstrip in case I’d find some weapons there. No luck. Looks as if someone went through the place just before me but I didn’t see anyone. I did find some semi useful stuff there, plus I found a bigger backpack, an assault pack! Finally some more space to carry junk around.

Anyway, the time for me was up so I headed out towards Cherno and decided to camp in the forest. This time I’m better prepared as I have more liquids with me. The hunting knife I found from the medical camp will surely help me survive. Now I only need to find some game from the forest, slay them with my hatchet and gut them. Raw meat, yummy. Can’t be too picky though, in the end it’s the apocalypse.

I thought the new players soawn randomly on the coast but the two times I’ve had this far have been near Komarovo, wonder if it’ll change. Also, I thought a spawning player would have no clue where they are but it seems the UI shows the approximate location briefly on the lower right corner before fading. Dunno if this is server-specific or something. One thing I’m proud of about this run is my headshot spree with the hatchet. How cool is that?

Had another go this evening and at the time of writing this I’m still alive.

I spawned near Komarov again and this time I decided I’d head up north towards a farm with possibly valuable loot. I found a double-barrel shotgun but managed to get it destroyed by trying to stuff it in my coyote backpack. I noticed it wasn’t the smartest of moves. Gotta learn the clunky inventory management to avoid destroying other valuables.

I then headed back towards the coast while checking the possible loot places on the way back. Didn’t find anything super-useful, although the water canteen I picked up somewhere is nice, now with 100% more content! The night sort of caught me by surprise and I didn’t want to gamma-cheat so I hugged a tree and logged out somewhere on the coast. Let’s see if I’m still alive when I log back in.

After downloading Arma2, Arma2:OA and DayZ Commander, I had a bit of trouble getting the DayZ up and running. The DayZ Commander instructions are a bit vague, to say the least. Also had some trouble with the ISP and a flapping connection but finally managed to get the game running.

After wandering around for a while I came by a lighthouse with a dead player in front of it, wonder if the poor chap fell down or was shot. He didn’t have anything on him so I moved on. Having no clue where I was I decided to stay close to the coast as I knew there’d be some villages on it. I soon came to a village and deciphered the sign to read Komarovo and with a quick glance at http://dayzmap.com/ I noticed in the very south-western corner of the map.

Having no earlier experience of the game I quickly noticed the zombies will spot me from quite far away and I spent a good while running away from them. Finally I found a hatchet from some coastal industrial building and I was ready to take on the zombies! I soon realized killing the zombies with a hatchet is no easy business, the zombies were scoring solid blows at me, no matter what I tried. Luckily I had bandages so I could patch my wounds and move along.

Soon enough food and water became a valuable commodity as the slain zombies carried none. I spent a couple of hours on the verge of starvation or dehydration while messing around Komarovo and trying to get a hang of things. When I discovered I can’t drink from a well without a water container I decided to make a run for it and headed to the Balota air strip. I found an MP5 from the control tower but the military hangars and the adjacent shack was of no use. The trip to the civilian hangars was equally uneventful.

I remembered seeing a military camp next to the air strip in some Youtube video so I decided to check it. None of the towers had anything useful in them (apart from a M1014, which I left there) so I was still close to dying. On the way to the third tower the zombies swarmed me, I ran out of ammo and the zombies broke my leg. I quickly fell into a shock and watched helplessly the zombies to eat me alive.